| 释义 |
outgrow, v.|aʊtˈgrəʊ|
[out- 18, 17, 14.]
1. trans. To surpass in growth, to grow faster than; to grow taller or bigger than. Also refl.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 104 You said, that idle Weeds are fast in growth: The Prince, my Brother, hath out⁓growne me farre. 1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Isaac's Marriage, But thou Didst thy swift years in piety outgrow. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 119 His avarice outgrew even the growth of his wealth. 1775Adair Amer. Ind. 408 They often let the weeds out-grow the corn. 1878Hardy Ret. Native I. i. iii. 54 His mother cried for scores of hours when 'a was a boy, for fear he should out⁓grow himself and go for a soldier.
2. To grow out of, or beyond the limits or capacity of, to become too large for (clothes, etc.).
1691–8Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 113 We outgrow our Pleasures, as we do our Clothes. 1833Marryat P. Simple vi, You have enough..to last you till you out⁓grow them. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. i. vii, ‘I doubt they'll outgrow their strength’, she added. 1872Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 613 He had out-grown everything. 1876Merivale Rom. Triumv. viii. 156 The population had far outgrown the accommodation it afforded.
3. fig. To grow out of or beyond (habits, opinion, circumstances, etc.); to leave behind in the process of growth or development.
1665Glanvil Scepsis Sci. x. 54 Even our gray heads out⁓grow not those errors which we have learn't before the Alphabet. 1712Steele Spect. No. 263 ⁋6 By my Care you outgrew them [convulsions]. 1832H. Martineau Homes Abroad vi. 78 Botany Bay may in time outgrow the odium attached to its name. 1865Lightfoot Galatians (1874) 30 The weak and beggarly elements which they had outgrown.
4. intr. To grow out, spring forth. rare.
1861W. Barnes in Macm. Mag. June 127 The plantling is cut off; and instead of it there may outgrow two others. |